


Long Exposure

by Recourse



Series: The Night Is Ours [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Ghoul!Max, Minor Violence, Semi-Sexual Content, it's complicated okay, rachel may or may not be a ghost, they're vampires what do you want from me, vampire!victoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 17:32:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11445675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recourse/pseuds/Recourse
Summary: Max is enamored with the night photography of the mysterious Mark Jefferson. Determined to seek him out for an interview, she ends up coming across his two assistants.One nearly drains her dry. The other saves her life.But Victoria's gift of life comes with a price; she and Max are bound forever by blood, and in the process of navigating that bond, they discover things that neither expected.





	Long Exposure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [morhdd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morhdd/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Ramona!

Max stares at her laptop screen, tapping her fingers against the trackpad. Her eyes sweep over the latest photographs on Jefferson’s website, _gorgeous_ night shots as usual, and so achingly familiar that she feels she could fall into them and know exactly where she is.

“I swear he’s here, Chloe,” she says, turning around in her desk chair to face the blue-haired girl on her bed.

She idly tosses a ball against the thin dorm room wall, catches it, then gives Max a raised eyebrow. “Okay, you know I love you, Max, but you’re seriously falling for the hype here and it’s really, truly disappointing.” She tosses the ball against the wall again.

“He is _not_ that special. Your photos are way better.”

“Come on, look!” Max urges, getting up and taking Chloe’s wrist to try and drag her over.

She goes limp immediately, of course, lolling her head at Max. “Oh, no, I’ve suddenly been paralyzed by pretentious ‘mystery’ photography, the only solution is to close the site forever!” Chloe wails dramatically. Max tugs at her impatiently and succeeds at getting her to fall headfirst onto the floor, which she takes like a trooper.

“Chloe, this is important to me,” Max says, putting on a pouty face. “I’m supposed to interview a featured photographer for class!”

Chloe rolls her eyes but remains committed to her bit, staying in a crumpled pile on the floor. “Can’t you call up some chump who actually has an e-mail address instead? Someone who doesn’t have a whole stupid shtick?”

Max puts her hands on her hips. “I want to talk to _Jefferson._ He’s an idol of mine, Chloe! C’mon, you know how long I’ve wanted to meet him, he’s so _cool._ ”

Chloe sighs, picking herself up off the floor. “Sometimes I forget how tragically straight you are, Caulfield.”

Max’s mouth runs dry. “Who, uh, who said I’m straight?” she asks, rubbing the back of her neck.

Chloe raises an eyebrow. “Your weird old-dude lust, but now I’m rethinking it. I’m kinda offended, Maximus, if you’re thinking you’re not straight it’s kind of your best friend duty to let me know.”

“I’m kind of in a weird place with it?” Max says, feeling a little like she’s under the microscope with Chloe’s careful eye on her. “I—I wanted to tell you, but I don’t really know, and—”

Chloe laughs, clapping Max on the shoulder. “Chill out, Max, I’m not dying over here. Rachel _said_ she got vibes from you, but here I am thinking I know you or some shit.” She crosses the room and looks at Max’s computer screen. “So what did you want me to look at, anyway?”

Max swallows, glad Chloe isn’t prying into this — a little uncharacteristic of her, if she’s honest, but Chloe usually knows when to pull back. “You know that place, right? That’s near that club Rachel dragged me to?”

Chloe purses her lips. “Yyyeah, that’s right around the Gothic. Why?”

Max’s eyes light up. “Step aside,” she announces dramatically, leaning over the desk and pulling up a file on her desktop, a map of the city with all the most recent Jefferson photo locations mapped out in red. Chloe groans aloud when she sees it.

“Max, are you serious with this?” she asks incredulously. “Okay, it’s one thing to fangirl over this dude, it’s another to like literally stalk him. You really think he’s gonna want to talk to some college freshman with a conspiracy board to track his movements?”

“Shh,” Max hisses, searching for the next spot to mark on the map. “See, look,” she says once she’s drawn in another red dot. “He’s going through the whole city in a pattern. He does this everywhere he goes, he’s super thorough. If I hang out around here,” Max says as she circles a couple of blocks, “for the next week around midnight, I can probably find him while he’s shooting!”

“Max, you are a crazy person,” Chloe informs her soberly. “You sure this is a good idea? Your tiny skinny ass wandering around L.A. late at night all alone?”

“If you’re so worried, come with me!” Max says, perking up. “I mean...I kinda wanted to have an adventure with you again.”

“We have had adventures, Caulfield,” Chloe says proudly. “What do you call that time me and Rachel took you with us on our roadtrip?”

“Poorly planned and lacking in funds?” Max suggests.

“An _adventure_.”

Max sighs. “Yeah, it was. But Chloe, I was kinda hoping you’d have my back on this.”

“Sorry, dude. I totally would be down to stalk your old-man crush—”

“Stop saying that! Nobody knows how old he is!”

Chloe smirks, but continues, “But me and Rachel are going up to Long Beach this week to hang at her parents’ house for a while. Introduce me to the folks properly or some shit. Speaking of.” She pulls her phone from her pocket. “I actually gotta get back home and pack. But if you ever decide to give up chasing corpses—”

_“Chloe!”_

“—And want to date someone actually appealing, like a _girl_ , hit us up. We know all the best spots.” Chloe gives her a wink as she goes, and Max quietly tries not to fume at her.

She turns back to the screen. It’s not like it’s some random abandoned area of the city. She’ll be fine.

She’s going to be the first person to get an interview with Mark Jefferson. And she’ll do it alone.

 

* * *

 

Max walks her pre-determined path through the night, sticking to the main streets, peering into alleyways with great caution to see if she can catch sight of a tripod. Her hands shake on the straps to her messenger bag, and she knows she must look like just the _perfect_ target right now, which is why she’s clutching Chloe’s can of Mace in one hand. _If she can’t be with me physically, she’s here in spirit,_ Max thinks to herself, trying to adopt Chloe’s swaggering confidence and then immediately retreating into herself again when a rat runs across the sidewalk in front of her.

If this project wasn’t due so soon, Max definitely would’ve chickened out an hour ago and gone straight home. The streets are deserted and there’s no sign of her mark, and, well, it’s midnight and that’s always kind of spooky.

And then she sees him.

She turns to look into an alley as she passes, and there he is. A tall man standing behind a tripod, the lens pointed straight at her. “Mr. Jefferson!” Max cries, changing direction immediately and walking towards him. He perks up, standing over his tripod and looking quizzically at her.

But as Max approaches, she can see he’s quite young. Maybe her own age, in fact, and not at all like the few pictures people have managed to snag of Jefferson. Blonde and clean-shaven rather than black-haired and bearded, and no glasses either. Max stops just short of his tripod.

“Oh, sorry, sir, I don’t — I thought you were someone else,” Max explains.

He smiles at her. “Don’t worry about it. I actually work for Mark.”

Max eyes him suspiciously. “Really? He doesn’t do the work himself?”

“He still does a shoot or two occasionally.” The man takes a step closer, and the streetlights glint off his eyes. Red. Deep, deep red. “How did you find out where he was going next?” he asks. He’s even closer now. Max clenches the can of Mace at her side.

“J-just a lucky guess, you know, I’m a fan—”

“He doesn’t really like people stalking his movements.” Another step closer, and as he speaks, he starts to slip into a strange lisp. There’s something sharp and pointed in his mouth.

Max takes a step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“You shouldn’t have come here.” He reaches out a hand and Max whips up the can, pressing down on top and closing her eyes. “Jesus, fuck!” he screeches, covering his eyes with one hand and flailing around with the other. Max turns to run, but someone drops down from the fire escape and blocks the way ahead of her, a woman. She falls silently, and when she looks up, her eyes are the same shade as the boy’s.

Max decides that the blinded one might be the better choice and tries to duck around him, but he grabs her by the throat and yanks her straight off the ground. “You bitch!” he shouts, eyes bloodshot, mouth dripping with drool, fangs glistening in the moonlight.

“Nathan, watch it,” the woman calls, but it’s too late, he’s sinking his teeth into Max’s neck, and all her muscles seize at once. Her head’s forced towards the sky, and she can see stars flaring out above the city, her vision brightening as he greedily sucks the blood from her veins.

“Nathan! Stop it, you fucking moron, you’re draining her dry!” the woman insists again, coming up behind him and slamming him on the back. He turns, still buried in Max’s neck, and throws her against the alley wall with one palm, his eyes crazed and _glowing_ as he feeds. Max’s vision starts to fade as the woman comes back with a vengeance, slamming him bodily to the floor and tearing his fangs out of her neck. Max sees droplets of blood suspended for a moment in the street lights, and hazily thinks it would make a really good photo if you timed it right.

Nathan lets out a satisfied sigh, and the woman gives him a matching weary one.

“Great. You made this really fucking complicated,” is the last thing Max hears before her vision goes dark.

 

* * *

 

 

Max’s vision slowly returns to her. At first, it’s just _bright._ Then it starts to dim, gain contrast and lines. A hotel room. A big fancy one at that. She’s lying on the bed in the center of it, on her back, her limbs unresponsive.

She hears a small _tink_ , like someone setting down a glass. She turns her head and groans at the pain in her neck.

“Don’t move,” a woman says. Max blinks. The voice seems familiar, but she can’t place it. She manages to tilt her head anyway, because she should at least _kind of_ know what’s going on. She sees a woman — no, a _girl,_ college at the oldest, clad in a tailored suit and sitting at the desk across the room. Her blonde pixie cut shines under the light as she holds up a small vial filled with red liquid to it, tapping a long manicured fingernail against the glass. She sets it down on the desk beside several others of its kind.

“Wh—what…”

The girl sighs, swiveling around in the chair to look at her. She’s beautiful, sharp-featured and tall, her skin pale but her lips blood-red. Her red eyes send a strange fear through Max’s body, but she still can’t quite move, can only sit here and sweat. “You don’t remember. Normally that’s the idea, but unfortunately Nathan can’t fucking stop himself.”

“Why—”

“I am a vampire. So is Nathan. When we bite you, we induce short-term memory loss so that when you wake up you don’t remember that we exist. But he fucked up.”

Max opens her mouth, but can’t muster up a thing to say. She’d say something about this being crazy, impossible, but the people who followed Jefferson made that joke all the time. And that’s what she was doing, she remembers, she went out at night to find him and then everything got fuzzy fast.

“Jesus, I just told you vampires exist and you’re sitting there like you just ate ten edibles. You _should_ be getting better by now,” the vampire tells her, turning back to her desk.

“Sorry, I just—I don’t know what to think. You can’t be a vampire, right? You’re messing with me.”

The girl turns around, rolls her eyes, and opens her mouth. It just looks like an ordinary mouth at first — and then the fangs extend, her canines growing into long, sharp spears. A chill runs through Max. “Just try touching me sometime. No body heat. No pulse,” she says, folding her arms and retracting her fangs. “I’m real. Don’t argue with me.”

Max nods dumbly, falling into silence again. She can’t say she doesn’t believe her, at this point. She feels like she’s in shock. She should know more about what’s going on, though. “What are you doing?” Max asks. She tries to get up on her elbows, and doesn’t quite manage. She contents herself with scooching up against the headboard so she’s at least sort of sitting up.

“I,” the vampire picks up a syringe and plunges it into her arm, drawing out her own blood, “am saving your life. Nathan almost killed you. The only way to make sure you didn’t die and cause a huge investigation that we really didn’t want, since you’ve been stalking Jefferson and I bet all your friends know it, was to feed you vampire blood. Problem is, that solution has some side effects.”

“Side effects?” Max asks.

“Thank you for repeating what I just said, I forgot all about it,” she snaps, squeezing the syringe into another vial. “Seven. That’s about as many as I can make.” She tries to stand up, but stumbles and has to hold onto the back of her chair. “Look, you’re what we call a ‘ghoul’ now. You get some of the good things about being a vampire — you’ll have fangs when you need to feed, you heal faster and are incredibly hard to kill, you need less sleep — but there’s a price.” Victoria puts her hand to her forehead. “Lucky me.”

“What’s the price?” Max asks carefully.

“You’re basically an addict. Human blood won’t work for you, you need to feed on vampire blood every day or you’ll start to lose your mind. And not just any vampire blood, the blood of the one who fed you first. Which happens to be me.”

Max’s eyes widen. “I—I don’t even know who you are, but I have to _drink your blood?_ ”

“You get used to it pretty fast, actually,” she says with a shrug. “If you’re gonna be my ghoul, we should get some shit straight. My name is Victoria. I work for Mark Jefferson, along with Nathan. I’m _not_ going to let you actually feed on me, that’s disgusting.”

Max almost feels offended. “Wait, what’s wrong with me that I can’t—”

“Jesus, look at you!” Victoria says like she’s offended at the very suggestion. “Some hipster trash who got too into her dad-crush? Please. You do _not_ get to stick your fangs in me.”

Max crosses her arms, not really realizing that that’s now a thing she’s able to do until it’s done. “I didn’t have a crush on Jefferson! I liked the photos, that’s all!”

Victoria looks quizzically at her. “His older stuff or the new material we’ve been putting on the blog?”

“Well, the old stuff obviously got him noticed, but I really like some of the new digital work—”

“So you like what Nathan and I do,” Victoria states, standing up a little straighter.

“Oh! Well, uh, yeah, of course I do.” Max rubs the back of her neck, and finds she can sit up properly now. “I mean, I went wandering out alone at night to find who made them, right?”

“Guess so.” Victoria brings a hand up to her chin, looking thoughtful. “What were you going after him for?”

“I had a school project and I wanted to get an interview.” It sounds dumb to Max, to say that now, after finding out she’s now essentially a vampire slave because of a photography project that’s not even worth all that many points. “S-so how are we going to work this out? You don’t seem really happy to be stuck with me…”

“I’m not, but it is what it is. If we don’t want people on our trail, we need to actually try to be stealthy.” Victoria taps one finger against her cheek. “I knew Nathan would mess this up eventually,” she groans. “He wasn’t ready for this, I _told_ them…”

“Victoria, how am I supposed to — what am I supposed to do?” Max asks, realization slowly dawning on her. This is so much to take in, and now that the numbness has worn off, she’s starting to feel anxiety clawing at her brain.

Victoria turns back to the desk. “We’ve got seven days of blood for you here. I can probably keep that up for a while.” She picks up one of the vials and frowns at it. “But we’ll be moving on soon. I’m not supposed to have a ghoul. They’re useful, but a ton of maintenance, and I’m nowhere near high enough on the pecking order for my own…”

“Gee, thanks for talking about me like I’m property,” Max says, looking away from her.

“Honestly, I want to involve you as little as possible, but we need to cover our tracks. You’ve already been missing for a day.”

“What?!” Max barks. “I was out that long?”

“You almost died.” Victoria blows air out of her nose. “All right. Listen. I’ll pretend to be Jefferson, give you your interview. However you want to work that out, tomorrow night.” She starts approaching the bed. “Right now, though, I’m about to faint.”

She starts crawling up the bed towards Max, who retreats against the headboard. “Woah, hey, what are you—”

Victoria rolls her eyes. “I need to feed, stupid.”

Max’s eyes widen. “You’re not going to—”

“What do you think ghouls are good for?” Victoria asks with a scoff. “You’ll be fine, you’ll heal up and the memory loss won’t work on you. Just hold still.”

Max looks desperately around, and sees that the can of Mace is nowhere to be seen, and, well, that didn’t work last time anyway, and—

“Oh, quit being such a baby,” Victoria chides, taking hold of Max’s wrist. “Listen, if I die, you’ll die too. Part of how the whole thing works. So helping me stay alive is kind of in your best interest.”

Max stares at her, and she stops moving. Is she actually waiting for permission? Victoria’s basically straddling her, one hand on her wrist, she could go in for Max’s neck without really meeting much resistance (Max isn’t strong enough to lift her own backpack some days) and yet she’s not doing it. Their eyes meet for a long while.

Victoria has a point, if everything she’s saying is true. And no matter what just happened, Max could really use someone who actually knows what’s going on. If she really needs to feed…

“Will it hurt?” Max asks.

“It will. The normal effects that make people stay quiet won’t work on you anymore. But I’ll make it short.” Victoria’s voice is strong and certain. Her fangs show as she opens her mouth to speak.

Max breathes, gritting her teeth. Victoria has to do this. Max can stand it. “Okay.” Max swallows and tilts her head, stretching her neck out. Victoria slowly lowers herself onto Max’s body. She’s cold, and her breath is frost on Max’s skin. It sends goosebumps down her spine.

“Ready?” Victoria whispers. Max nods and steels herself.

It hurts.

It feels _amazing._

Last time it felt like what it was, being drained dry, but this is so different. Victoria’s fangs burn where they’re embedded in Max’s flesh, the pain white-hot. Max cries out, but warm sensations start flooding her body too, blood rushing in her ears. She closes her eyes and tenses her fingers, one hand sliding down from Victoria’s grasp and intertwining their fingers, the other knotting the sheets. Max bites down on her own lip, body singing with pain and pleasure all at once.

Victoria _moans_ into her neck, and that sets some...other parts of Max’s body into motion. She can feel the heat in her cheeks. Victoria’s warming up too, her breath hot against Max’s neck, her hand in Max’s starting to sweat. Victoria pulls out after what seems like an eternity, one last stab of pain in Max’s neck. Victoria pants, holding herself above Max. Her eyes glow like neon lights in the shadow of her face.

“Holy shit,” she breathes. “No wonder he couldn’t stop. You taste so _good._ ”

“Uh...thanks?” Max manages, trying to get her breathing under control herself. That was _weird._ It was really, really weird. She finds herself staring at Victoria’s neck, and something’s poking inside of her mouth.

Victoria still looks crazed, but as Max opens her mouth, she backs off. “Wait, hold on,” she says, scrambling off the bed. She grabs one of the vials and uncaps it, handing it to Max, and without even thinking she downs the entire thing. Her mind clears and she blushes again, embarrassed at how strongly she wanted to just sink her teeth into Victoria’s neck. This ghoul stuff is a hell of a drug, apparently.

“Right,” Victoria says, the glow fading from her eyes. She clears her throat. “Give me your phone number and I’ll drop you off...wherever it is you live. We’ll set something up tomorrow night. It’s almost dawn.”

“Um, all right.” Max swings her legs over the side of the bed and stands up. When she stretches, it feels like she pops every joint in her body. She spots her messenger bag laying against the door to the hotel room. Victoria deposits the rest of the vials into it before handing it to her, then turns to Max.

“I’ll call you tomorrow when I wake up. Come on. My car’s parked in valet.”

Max follows Victoria awkwardly through the hotel halls, stands silently next to her while she waits for her car. They don’t even look at each other. Max is too busy trying to work out everything that just happened, and worst of all, her mind keeps going back to how she felt when Victoria fed on her. She shifts away from Victoria, and is grateful when they get into the car and are separated by the center console.

They share a quiet drive back to Max’s dorms, Max merely giving directions as Victoria drives. Victoria turns the stereo on low, fuzzy lo-fi indie coming through the speakers. It’s not what Max would’ve expected from a vampire, but maybe Victoria really is as young as she looks.

When she stops and lets Max out, they share a strange look between them. They’re tied together now. Victoria seemed to consider that a pain before, but she just looks contemplative now.

“See you tomorrow night,” she says, and Max goes back inside, to her normal life, and falls asleep as soon as she hits her bed.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Max wanders from class to class in a bit of a daze. She collects notes from her friends for the classes she missed, copies them down without reading them. She keeps reaching up and feeling where Victoria’s fangs once were, as if there’s a mark. There is none. She checks every time she looks in a mirror. And yet sometimes she feels phantom sensation, distracting her while she’s writing down whatever’s on the blackboard, making her remember last night. Did it really happen? Are those blood vials really still in her fridge at home, waiting to be drunk?

She checks when she gets home, lifting one of the bottles up to her overhead light and swishing it around. It should look gross. It’s _blood,_ for God’s sake. And yet it _smells_ good, though she knows she shouldn’t drink it yet. She pokes around her top row of teeth, feeling for fangs, and gets nothing.

She thinks about telling someone. Chloe, maybe? But then, she gets the feeling Victoria could just take her away, if she wanted to. Kill her even, like her friend almost did.

When does Victoria get up? When will she call so she can get this interview and start pretending that really, vampires don’t exist, Jefferson’s just a reclusive photographer, and the blood is just...some kind of medicine. That she has to take nightly. Very normal.

She can’t focus on schoolwork at all when she gets on her laptop. She runs Google searches about vampires, ghouls, Jefferson, anything that might get her close to what she’s experiencing. It’s all bullshit, though. No one on the Internet has actually seen one, have they? They never even mention the glow after feeding…

Her phone rings on her desk and jolts her out of her internet coma, showing an unknown number. The sun’s gone down outside. It must be her.

Max scrambles to open a quick Word document before answering.

“I have the right number, right?” Victoria asks bluntly. “You’re just in here as ‘Ghoul.’”

Max scoffs. “You never even asked for my name!”

“Does it matter?” Max hears Victoria’s chair squeak. “I don’t want to involve you any more than I have to.”

“I’m Max,” Max says defiantly, folding her arms despite the fact that Victoria can’t see her. “Max Caulfield.”

“Okay, fine, Max. So how are we doing this interview thing?” Victoria must be tapping a pen against her desk.

Max digs into her messenger bag for the assignment and looks over the example questions. “I just need to get ten answers from you about your technique, inspiration, stuff like that.”

“Huh. All right. Should I pretend to be Jefferson or just tell you what I do?”

“Didn’t your, uh…” Max swallows, remembering the boy who bit her. “Didn’t your friend do most of it?”

“We split it. And he’s…” Victoria takes in a sharp breath. “He’s gone. His family called him back. It’s just me out here now.”

“Oh.” Max would say she’s sorry, but knowing Nathan is gone is actually kind of a relief. At least Victoria asked permission. “Just tell me what you do yourself, it’ll be more authentic. So...okay, I guess I’ll start. What made you want to pursue night photography specifically?”

Victoria chuckles. “I don’t have much of a choice.”

Max can’t help but laugh in return. “Okay, yeah, fair, but I can’t put that in the assignment.”

Victoria thinks for a moment on the other end of the line. “It’s all about long exposure. How to set your camera right so that you get the perfect contrast, especially in a city. It’s this nice challenge, to find somewhere you can set up shop and get the perfect shot to convey mood while fighting against the tech itself the whole time. Figuring out the perfect contrast, taking shot after shot…”

Victoria sounds strangely _alive_ as she talks about photography. Max finds herself drawn into her answers as she talks about the process of capturing the whole city block-by-block, figuring out how to get stars in frame as well as city lights, the use of Photoshop to combine pictures to create the surreal images of night that first drew Max’s eye. She transcribes their talk religiously, and keeps finding herself casting glances at the fridge, wanting vaguely for Victoria to be here with her instead. She has a nice voice.

Max shakes her head, annoyed at herself. The addiction is no joke, is it? She’s going to have to get used to this. “That was ten questions, right?” Victoria asks, shaking her out of her thoughts.

“Y-yeah.” Max swallows. She needs to drink _now._ “Thanks for helping me out with this. I know you didn’t have to…”

“It was actually sort of nice to be able to talk about it,” Victoria admits. “The only people I’ve talked to for almost a year are Nathan and Jefferson, and they were both sort of bored with the project. Jefferson just keeps doing it so he can keep getting attention while he does his _real_ work.”

“What’s his real work?” Max asks, despite the ache in her stomach. _That’s_ too interesting of a tidbit to leave laying around.

“It’s — he — actually, no, I really shouldn’t tell you. You shouldn’t get deeper in this than you have to.” Victoria’s voice strains. “Look, I—I should get off the line if we’re done here. I’ll come by the next time you need a refill, all right?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” Max deflates a little bit. Without Chloe around, and without even being able to talk to anyone about what’s happened, it’d been nice to have a little companionship. Victoria would make a good study partner, if she was alive.

Victoria just hangs up, and Max rushes over and grabs a vial as quickly as she can. The drink calms her buzzing body, and she finds she’s finally able to focus on the world around her. She has homework to do. Stop thinking about the vampire.

At least until she comes by to give you your fix again.

 

* * *

 

Max is just downing the last vial in the fridge when her phone buzzes with a text.

_Which room is yours?_

How did she even get into the building? The doors are supposed to lock at eight. Max figured she’d meet Victoria outside somewhere tonight, but apparently Victoria wants this to be as private as possible. By sneaking into her dorm.

Still, no reason not to tell her. She texts back _119_ and receives a knock at her door moments later. Max opens it to reveal the vampire she’s been waiting for, clad in another tasteful black-and-white suit.

“I thought I smelled you in here,” Victoria says, stepping into her room and gently pushing the door half-closed behind her.

“Excuse me?” Max asks, folding her arms.

Victoria shifts uncomfortably. “Look, we’re kind of like sharks, all right? If you feed on someone, you remember what they smell like. Blood in the water or whatever.”  

Max raises an eyebrow. “Okay…”

Victoria clears her throat and moves over to Max’s fridge, setting her purse down on the floor. “This where you’ve been keeping it?”

“Y-yeah.”

Victoria opens the fridge and takes out the old vials, then reaches into her purse and replaces them. As she stands up, her eyes linger on the wall behind the fridge, the collection of photos that Max keeps pinned there. “Are those yours?” Victoria asks, lightly touching a finger to one.

“Oh! Uh, yeah, they’re all mine. Just, y’know, stuff I liked that I didn’t turn in for class, or times that meant something to me…” Max rubs the back of her neck as Victoria’s red eyes scan each photo. She looks entranced.

“You’re really good,” Victoria murmurs. “You’ve got such an eye for light.”

“T-thanks. It’s, you know, it’s my major.” Victoria turns her gaze towards Max, and she swallows instinctively.

“I always wanted to go to an art school,” Victoria says, looking a little downcast. “But then my parents gave me to Mark. It was an _honor_ to be sired by him.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Max says, trying to smile, lighten the mood, something. “The reading alone is murder.”

Victoria chuckles. “It might be nice to have something to do _besides_ follow someone else’s exact directions for your photography, though. I’m basically a slave to his art.”

“No you’re not!” Max objects. “Like, sure, you have a prompt, but ever since I talked with you about it, it’s so obvious you’ve got a different eye than he does. I went back and looked through the gallery on the website, and your work feels a lot...warmer? His stuff looks so cold and mechanical in comparison, I mean it’s _good,_ don’t get me wrong, but…”

Max trails off because Victoria is smiling at her. A small smile, but it’s the first time she’s seen her without some kind of scowl or neutral expression.

“I...thank you,” Victoria says. “I’m so used to no one really knowing who I am, I guess, people just think he changed direction.”

“Well, I’m kind of into this stuff, you know,” Max says, smiling back at her. “Once I knew to look for it, it was obvious. You’re really talented. You’re not just copying him.”

Victoria looks away, and Max wonders if she’d blush if she was alive. But it’s true, she’s been staring at the photos on the site since they talked, and she can’t help but get a little obsessive over that sort of thing.

Victoria looks back up at her. “S-seriously, thankss.” Her words hiss, and Max catches a glimpse of her fangs before she claps her hand over her mouth and averts her eyes.

Max’s eyes widen, her heart speeding up. She remembers Victoria’s fangs in her, knows she wants to do that again, despite everything.

“...do you want to feed?” she asks, sweat forming on her palms. Is she really doing this? Surely how she felt last time was some bizarre accident, Victoria couldn’t have felt it too, except there was that moan, and even so there’s something else here, the way Max can’t stop staring at her. She remembers her conversation with Chloe a week ago. Definitely not straight.

“I—look, it’ss not a big deal,” Victoria stammers. “I can go find anyone else, you don’t have to—”

“It’s okay,” Max insists. “I didn’t feel any different afterwards, it didn’t permanently hurt me, and like...I don’t know...you don’t have to.”

Victoria looks at her again and Max just freezes. She approaches slowly. “Are you sure?” she asks, wavering in front of Max.

Max pulls down one side of her collar in response, too embarrassed to explain this. If it can feel that good again, she wants to see. She knows she shouldn’t get deeper into this, but...it’s just a minute or two, right? It can happen every once in a while when she comes by. No big deal.

Victoria puts her hands on Max’s shoulders, and that’s enough to make her heart skip a beat by itself. “Ready?” she asks, her voice breathy and light. When Max looks into her eyes, she sees the hunger in them.

“Yeah,” she croaks out, and Victoria lowers her head to Max’s neck. Her fangs gently scrape the skin, searching for an artery. Max’s breath catches in her throat.

When they pierce her skin, Max falls forward, grabbing Victoria’s hips for stability and letting out a gasp. Before she can stop herself, a small moan escapes her, her nerves singing even while her neck burns. Shit, Victoria has to _know_ now, and yet she doesn’t stop, in fact her hands clench on Max’s shirt as she feeds. Max closes her eyes, trying hard just to stay upright while electricity flares from point to point in her body, hurting and yet energizing wherever it sparks.

She can feel Victoria’s body warming up again, even her breath is hot as it hisses out of her nose against Max’s skin. Max doesn’t want it to end, being this close to Victoria, her body quivering, Victoria’s hands on her. It feels like she could be here forever.

Then the door bursts open behind Victoria and they both scramble apart, turning to face the intruder.

It’s Chloe.

Of _course_ it’s Chloe.

Her eyes are wide as silver dollars, and then a huge smirk breaks out across her face. She lets out a wolf-whistle. “Holy shit, Max,” she says through her grin. “I’m gone for a week and you get a smoking hot girlfriend _without me?_ ”

Max and Victoria exchange glances, pure confusion and rage in Victoria’s eyes, like she’s telepathically signalling _Who the fuck is this?_ and all Max can signal back is _Shit!_

“She-she’s not my—”

“Yeah, she did,” Victoria says, standing up straight and putting her hands on her hips. “And we’re kind of in the middle of something.”

“Ooh, she’s not having any of your shit, Max! I like her already. Max, lemme see that hickey she was—”

Victoria clears her throat loudly. “Can you get out of here already? Max didn’t tell me she was expecting anyone.”

“I was just trying to surprise my _best friend_ on the day I came back from vacation, geez,” Chloe says, putting her hands up. “Max, sister, you there?”

Max realizes she should _probably_ pretend she’s functional right now. “Uh, s-sorry, Chloe, but this really isn’t a good time. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”

Chloe shrugs. “Fine, fine, keep making out, see if I care. I was just stopping by on my way to see Rachel anyway. But you _are_ telling me about this chick, in great detail, _soon._ ” Chloe does the _eyes on you_ gesture at Victoria, then flips her hand and sticks her tongue between her fingers before Max physically shoves her out the door. She remembers to lock it this time, then turns to look at Victoria.

 _“Girlfriend?_ ” she says, still a little in shock.

Victoria just shrugs. “It’s a good cover if she happens to barge in on us again. You’re not straight, right?”

“I—I—”

“I mean, you didn’t _seem_ straight.” Victoria sighs. “Look, I’m going to have to come by at least once a week, the post office doesn’t let you mail human remains. Believe me, people have tried. So if I’m seen walking in here, I should have a reason to be here.”

“...fine,” Max says, defeated. If she’s honest with herself, she’s more annoyed that the feed was interrupted than anything else. Victoria has a point, and she’s way out of Max’s league anyway. Chloe will be an ass about it, but maybe it’ll be fun to have something to brag about.

“All right.” Victoria straightens herself and gets her purse off the floor. “Thanks. For, um, the feed.”

“Yeah. Anytime,” Max says, and she wants to slap herself. But _God_ it felt good, just like last time, no wonder the addiction’s so strong.

“See you next week.”

With that, Victoria leaves. Seconds later, Max gets a text.

**Rachel:**

_YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND???????_

 

* * *

 

As soon as Max’s phone rings, Chloe and Rachel immediately swivel and gather around her. Max swallows and answers, looking nervously around the bus stop to make sure no one _else_ is listening.

“Where are you?” Victoria asks harshly. “I need to drop off your stuff, and your door’s locked.”

“So, um…” Max shushes Rachel’s giggling, giving her best attempt at a glare. “Rachel and Chloe are kind of dragging me out to a club? They wanted a double-date and when I said you were supposed to come over…”

“We saw our chance,” Chloe says menacingly into Max’s phone before Max pushes her off.

“They’re not gonna leave me alone until they meet you,” Max says, knowing her voice is getting desperate. “If I give you the address, will you come?”

Victoria takes a moment, then lets out a long sigh. “Well. If we’re going to sell it. Meet you there.”

Once Max gives out the address, Victoria hangs up without so much as a goodbye, and Rachel puts her hand on Max’s shoulder. “Hey, sorry, hope we didn’t make things bad for you and her,” she says. “But I really _do_ wanna meet her.”

“Ah, come on,” Chloe says, ruffling Max’s hair. “That girl’s _totally_ into Max, she’s just a bitch about it. Could spot it a mile away. Now come on, bus is here.”

 

* * *

 

Max spots Victoria entering the club, her attire (another _suit_ , it’s really not fair) making her stand out against the crowd. As soon as Max points her out to Rachel and Chloe, Chloe stands up on the booth and whistles at a truly ear-shattering frequency. Victoria’s head pivots towards their corner (thank god for Rachel’s magic VIP access) and she starts towards them, the sea of bodies parting for her automatically. Max sinks further into the booth as Rachel stands up and tells the guard to let her through, she’s with her, and then Victoria slides into the booth beside Max and oh God their thighs are touching. Max didn’t really think this through at all.

“What’s up, Victoria?” Rachel asks as she takes a seat beside Chloe. “Long time no see!”

Max’s brain feels like it’s breaking. She looks over to Victoria, who looks very confused at first, and then her eyes narrow in recognition.

“...Santa Monica, right?” Victoria says slowly as Max and Chloe trade baffled glances.

“Yeah, you remember!” Rachel beams at her. “We bumped into each other and had some interesting conversations.”

Something flashes in Rachel’s eyes as she turns back to Max. “So how’d you two meet?” she asks, like nothing unusual just happened at all.

“Oh, um—” Max starts, but Victoria interrupts.

“We met at a gallery showing. We kept coming back to the same picture and started talking shop, and next thing I knew we were going out for Starbucks,” Victoria says confidently, falling back against the seat and putting an arm around Max. Max tries to lean into it and look natural, but Chloe’s smirk shows that she’s failing. “She found out I know Jefferson, got his info from me, so she could stop wandering the streets at night.”

“And Max invited you over to her place after one week?” Chloe asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“She’s more bold than you think.”

“Really? Because she’s completely beet-red right now.”

Max isn’t sure how to respond to that, though everyone’s eyes are on her right now and that really isn’t helping. She clears her throat. “Look, it was just kind of — she’s very charming,” she says, giving Chloe an exaggerated shrug. “And I was excited, sue me.”

“No, no, I’m not judging! Good to see you have a little bit of spine after all,” Chloe says, raising a hand. “High five, Max, you got to first base _way_ faster than me and Rachel.”

Max blushes, but does high-five Chloe. It seems like the right thing to do. If she actually had Victoria as a girlfriend instead of being an idiot and falling into this vampire world. Which probably wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but it’s not like Victoria would’ve even paid her a second glance if she was alive, anyway. Though Victoria’s story isn’t _entirely_ unlikely. She’s good at this.

“Victoria does have a way of taking things pretty fast. Not as fast as some of her friends, though,” Rachel says, smiling.

Victoria clears her throat. “Anyway, so you’re Chloe, right? How do you know Max?”

“Oh, you know, just her best friend forever that she may have left alone back in her hometown for six years,” Chloe says nonchalantly.

“Chloe, I—I’ve said I’m sorry—”

“Luckily Rachel’s the RA for her floor and we happened to meet up one day and it’s like she never left,” Chloe continues unabated. “Me and Rachel’ve been running together for a long time, pretty much since Max left. So once Rachel told me there was a little nervous freckled girl on her floor…”

“It was a little terrifying when you just showed up at my door one day,” Max admits.

“Eh, you deserved a scare. I’m surprised she hasn’t told you all this already, I thought I’m the most interesting thing in everyone’s lives.” Chloe shoots a meaningful look at Max. “Still, though. Glad she actually met someone and didn’t run screaming to me, actually. I figured I’d have to wingman her through her first kiss.”

Max goes red again and stares down at the table while Rachel giggles. Even Victoria is smiling, which doesn’t help. Max finds herself sneaking glances at her, though. Wanting to be closer to her. Wanting to—

Shit.

She hasn’t had Victoria’s blood yet today, and she’s starting to feel a bit of an itch. She’s experimented with it over the last week, holding out as long as she can until the desire becomes unbearable. She has a few hours. She just needs to get home before sunrise.

But Victoria’s right here, and that makes it harder. Max can smell her perfume, feel her arm around her shoulders.

The club lights go down suddenly, and Chloe whoops. “Ah, shit yeah, he’s coming out!”

“Who?” Victoria asks, looking confused.

“Nitrobeat, bitch!” Chloe informs her as she and Rachel start getting out of the booth. “I am so hyped for this, let’s get out on the floor and _dance,_ hippies! Vic, I wanna see your moves! I already know Max can’t dance!”

Victoria moves to follow them, taking Max’s hand as they leave the VIP section. She pulls Max into a corner far from the actual music, losing Rachel and Chloe in the sea of bodies. Victoria looks around rapidly, then sighs, closing her eyes.

“I did _not_ think that you knew Rachel Amber,” Victoria says, running a hand down her face. “I also didn’t think _anyone_ could still know her.”

“What do you mean?” Max asks.

“You weren’t Nathan’s first mistake. I thought she was dead. She _was_ dead.” Victoria looks Max in the eye, putting her hands on her shoulders, and Max is suddenly very distracted. Her breath leaves her.

Dammit. _Damn it._ Victoria’s saying something important, very important, and yet all of Max’s senses are primed to distract her. “Max,” Victoria says, and Max tries to meet her eyes without wavering. “Be careful. I only met her a few times while she was working with Mark. I don’t know _what_ she is. I thought she was just a human who wandered into our world, but...watch yourself. And watch Chloe’s back, too.”

Max nods. “I—I will. But...why are you worried about me? Aren’t I just a liability to you?”

Victoria averts her eyes, biting her lip. “I—losing you would look worse for me than making a ghoul on impulse in the first place. I’m trying to look responsible.”

“Oh.” Max looks at her shoes. What were you thinking, that she might actually _like_ you? All you are is a mistake, a weight around her neck. And you’re going to be that forever. _Forever._ She’s bound here, to someone who can’t really care about her, someone who—

Victoria takes her hand, and Max realizes she’s crying. It’s all hitting her, the weight of the tie between them, and she must look like a complete wreck right now, but Victoria’s touching her and that’s making her body cry out in _need_ and that’s much worse.

She manages to look up and see Victoria’s eyes, wide and frightened. “Come on,” she urges, and then she’s pulling Max through a backdoor, into the alley behind the club. They duck behind an electrical box, and Victoria doesn’t let go of her hand.

“I keep forgetting that you’re not…” Victoria grasps for words. “You’re not a part of this world. My world. And I don’t want you to be, but it’s all I’ve known. Ever. I spent my entire life until I was eighteen being prepared to be sired, to be given away to some powerful old corpse like Mark.” She reaches a hand up to Max’s face, pushing back the hair that’s come over her watering eyes. “I—I really am worried about you. I don’t want you to live my life. But I’m not supposed to say things like that, I’m not even supposed to _think_ them.”

Max sniffs, trying to parse Victoria’s words, her softened tone. “What are you saying?” she asks.

“I’m saying — I’m saying I actually like you. A lot. You’ve been so stupidly nice to me, more than I ever expected. You’re kind, and smart, and talented... and I wish we’d never met, so that you wouldn’t be stuck in this shitty fucking situation.” Victoria’s hand tenses over Max’s. “I’m trying to stay in control, but it’s — it’s fucking _hard._ ”

Max can’t help but let out a little laugh. “I know what you mean,” she says, swallowing a hiccup. “I’ve been trying not to panic about this, and you’ve actually — I can tell you’re trying to look out for me. Make this as easy on me as you can. You didn’t have to come out tonight just to maintain cover, I know you didn’t, but—”

“I wanted to see you.” The words fall out of Victoria’s mouth, more a mumble than a statement, but Max’s eyes widen.

“You did?”

“I — God. After...after the first time I came to your place, I was really looking forward to doing it again. I wanted to know more about you. I kept thinking the blood would just be a, a good excuse, to not work for Mark for one night, to hang around your dorm, I kept thinking of ways I could extend it and…” Victoria gulps. “I wanted to pretend. To be your girlfriend. To be normal. Just for a night.”

Max’s chest feels tight. Despite the pounding addiction in her veins, she knows that the blood tie isn’t all that’s making her draw closer to Victoria right now. “We can do that,” Max says softly, stroking her arm. “If you want.”

“Are you sure? We don’t have to keep up this cover. I can be more careful. We won’t get caught again.” Victoria looks so nervous.

“Yeah. Let’s just go in and dance for a while and we can just...we can forget about all this. Rachel, Jefferson, all of it.” Max tries to give her a smile. “I can pretend to be your girlfriend for a while. It’s really not so bad.”

Victoria composes herself, straightening her back. “All right,” she says, taking a deep breath. She smiles back and takes Max’s hand again. “I’ve never been dancing. I will totally bite Chloe if she says one word, though.”

Max’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’re hungry, huh?”

“I—n-no, just, you know, trying to get into the spirit of things,” Victoria stammers. Max bites her tongue. Don’t tip your hand, Max. Don’t show the _other_ reason you like having Victoria around.

They slip back into the club and Max charges ahead, seeking the blue beacon that is Chloe’s hair in the darkness. Chloe may make a lot of noise about how Max can’t dance, but she’s always somehow a source of courage for Max regardless, because Chloe isn’t actually a _good_ dancer so much as an _energetic_ one. She certainly draws the eye, but it’s always Rachel who flows like water through the crowd, zipping in and out of Chloe’s orbit to give her light pecks before vanishing again.

Max feels safe beside her best friend, who smiles widely as soon as she spots her. Victoria looks nervous, but Max can see her starting to sway to the beat, starting to lose herself. When Rachel swings by next, she takes Victoria with her, and despite how terrified Victoria looks at first she follows. When she comes back, her hair’s mussed and her tie’s crooked, but she’s still smiling.

A darker, deeper song starts up, and the crowd slows to match it. Victoria slowly pulls Max into a corner at the back, hands on her hips, so close that Max can feel how cold Victoria still is despite the heat in the club. Max holds her breath as they hold one another, barely moving now, Victoria’s eyes shy, darting back and forth from her face to random points in the room.

The strobe light glints off the sharp point of a fang, and Max’s throat tightens. Victoria draws closer, whispering in her ear.

“Can I…?”

They shouldn’t be doing this, not here, but it’s dark and couples do this at shows, right? Well not _this_ but something that looks like it. Max takes a deep breath and cranes her neck to the side.

It’s like Victoria’s mouth just _knows_ her now, her fangs finding purchase immediately, and Max’s body responds in exactly the way she remembers. She bites her lip to keep from crying out, gripping tight to Victoria’s jacket, panting through her nose as Victoria warms up. Staying on her feet is proving difficult for Max, she has to tense her legs ramrod-straight and pray they won’t turn to jelly.

Despite how hot it is in here, despite the difficulty of hiding the extent of her pleasure, it still feels like a loss when Victoria pulls back. Max’s fangs are out, she can feel them, _aching_ for Victoria’s body. Her blood hasn’t stopped pumping, there is no cooldown here, and staring into Victoria’s flushed face is only making her need stronger.

Their eyes meet for a long time, Max panting open-mouthed. She shouldn’t ask. Shouldn’t push this. Max watches Victoria’s throat as she swallows. She nods, then tilts to the side herself, showing Max her veins.

Instinct draws Max to Victoria’s neck. She just knows how to do this, her muscles act on their own. When she finally sinks her teeth in, she understands all at once what Victoria’s been getting out of this.

Victoria lets out a sudden gasp. Her blood rushes into Max’s mouth, warm and sweet, and she sucks it down greedily, feeling her entire body energize as the fluid flows through her veins. Her legs shake beneath her, her eyes closing. She has to fight back the urge to groan. She can feel something inside her building and building, her mind slowly emptying of everything that isn’t how Victoria tastes.

But Victoria’s responding too, shaking in Max’s arms, whimpering under her breath as her knees start to buckle. Her hands clench, tighter and tighter on Max’s hips, breath hissing out of Victoria’s nose, and then—

Victoria squirms, Max’s fangs slipping from her flesh as she covers her mouth and falls against Max. Max holds her, dazed, feeling small shocks run through Victoria’s body. She stares at nothing, trying to really understand what just happened, and only coming up with one possibility.

“Did you just…” she asks, her face burning.

“Hhhyeah…” Victoria breathes, her own skin completely flushed pink in a way that Max has never seen before. She holds Victoria against her, Victoria’s heart thudding through her chest. As they cool down, Max can actually feel Victoria’s heart slow, and finally stop again entirely. She feels frozen here. Victoria’s the same way, still not moving despite being draped over Max. The crowd hasn’t taken any notice at all in the darkness, but Max feels like all eyes are on them.

“We...we should go,” Max stammers, stepping back and taking Victoria’s wrist. Victoria nods, the blush faded from her face but still looking hideously embarrassed regardless. She follows Max out the back door again. Once they’re clear, Victoria turns to Max.

“S-sorry, I really didn’t expect that to feel…” She sucks in air, trying and failing to look calm. “I knew you liked it, but…”

Max’s face flushes. “You did?”

“I—I just thought it was something weird about _you_ , not that it was…” Victoria shudders. “Oh my God.”

“That...doesn’t happen for everyone, does it?” Max asks. “I didn’t — when Nathan bit me…”

“It must have something to do with us being tied by blood.” Victoria breathes out, putting a hand to her forehead. “I, uh…”

“It’s, it’s okay,” Max assures her. “I’m not...offended or anything. I, um…” _I liked it._ That’s what she wants to say. It had been sort of incredible to watch Victoria crumble like that. Should she even say that? How far is this going to go?

“Okay.”

They look at each other, eyes blown wide, and Max can’t help but reach for her hand. Victoria swallows and looks away.

“Earlier, when Chloe said you hadn’t had your first kiss…” Victoria struggles for her next words. “I wanted to just leave. Leave you alone. Because, because I haven’t either, and I was hoping, somehow, by pretending...but you actually have a chance. To be with someone you actually want, and have that experience with _them,_ instead.”

She looks so vulnerable in this moment. So _young._ Max’s mouth runs dry.

“I wouldn’t mind,” she says softly, putting a hand to Victoria’s cheek and turning her back to face her.

“But it shouldn’t be _fake—_ ”

“It wouldn’t be.”

Victoria hesitantly steps closer, her hands rising up and pressing against Max’s back. “Are you sure?” she asks.

“Victoria…” Max hesitates, but she should say this. Get it out there. “I don’t think dating you is a bad idea at all. I’d like to know you. If I’m going to be bound to you, I might as well enjoy it. I—I think you’re pretty and talented. And nicer than you pretend.”

Victoria can’t seem to come up with a response, so she just leans down and kisses Max, and it’s as good as she could’ve ever imagined. It’s light, but it fills Max with tingles. She swells. Maybe it’s just making the best of a bad situation, but this is one hell of a story for her first kiss.

“I’d like that too,” Victoria murmurs as she draws away. She pulls back her sleeve and checks her watch. “L-listen, Mark expects more photos from me tonight. But tomorrow...can I come over? To your dorm?”

“Of course. We could go out for a movie, too.”

Victoria brightens. “I’d love that. I’ve never gotten to go to a theater.” She sighs, looking at her watch again. “I’ll take you home. Your vials are in my car.”

Max takes her hand as they head out of the alleyway. She follows Victoria into the night, unafraid.

 

* * *

 

She gets a kiss goodbye as Victoria drops her off outside the dorms, and that’s enough to have her practically floating to her room. _God,_ what a night. Nothing like how she expected her first kiss to go. Or the first orgasm she gave another girl, for that matter. She blushes at the memory. Her mind wanders as she unlocks her door, wondering if they’ll feed on each other again tomorrow, if they should keep doing that stuff even though it’s technically like way too soon, now that she knows for sure what she was experiencing. If they could mix it into other things...

She’s so distracted by her own imagination that she doesn’t notice Rachel’s in her room until she drops down off her bed right in front of her face.

Max lets out a small scream and nearly falls on her ass, only to be caught in a nearly dance-like movement by Rachel. She laughs as she raises Max back up to her feet.

“Jesus, Rachel!” Max exclaims, pushing her off. “How’d you even get in here?”

“My magic powers, of course,” Rachel says, giving her a wink. Max remembers what Victoria said and freezes, but Rachel rolls her eyes. “I’m the RA, dummy. I have keys for everyone’s dorms in case someone’s in trouble.”

“Oh.” Max clears her throat. “So what’s up? I thought you and Chloe were still at the club.”

“A girl’s gotta have some secrets,” Rachel says with a smile. But the room is still dark. Max didn’t turn on the lights, and apparently neither did Rachel. The door swings shut behind Max, and all Max can see is the thin shine in Rachel’s eyes.

“Max.” She puts her hands on Max’s shoulders. “You know what Victoria is, right?”

Max swallows, and tastes hints of Victoria’s blood. “Y-yeah.”

“She runs with a bad crowd. Even for her type.” Rachel’s eyes bore into Max and she wants to just shrink away, but Rachel’s grip on her shoulders is surprisingly strong. “Stay away from her friends.”

“I—”

“You’re a sweet girl, Max. Don’t get caught up in all this.” Rachel sighs. “God knows I never wanted to deal with it again. But if you need me to get you out of a jam sometime, call me and I’ll be right there. Okay?”

“Oh!” Max breathes a sigh of relief. This was really starting to get spooky. “Yeah, Rachel, I — I’ll remember that.”

“Cool!” Rachel brightens up and claps her on the shoulder. “Just making sure you know I’m here to help, and that you, yknow, know what you’re getting into. It’s literally my job to look after you, after all.” She leans in and kisses Max’s cheek. “Get Vicky away from her people and I’d be happy to have her around, though, she’s fun to fluster,” she adds as she walks past Max and opens the door.  “Bye, Max!”

Max quickly walks over and flips on the light, then considers something. She pulls out her phone and texts Chloe _Sorry I had to leave! Victoria had to go early and she gave me a ride_

**Chloe:**

_np girl get some!!! bet shes wild in bed_

_im just waiting for rachel to get out of the bathroom rn but we’re goin till the place closes baybeee_

Max leans her head out of the doorway and sees Rachel head into the bathroom on the left. Eyeing the door suspiciously as it swings shut, she makes a decision.

She quickly rushes into the bathroom and finds it entirely empty.

A text shows up on her phone.

**Rachel:**

_i said a girls gotta have secrets ;)_

 

* * *

 

When Victoria shows up outside the dorms the next day, Max finds her leaning against her car door, looking downright gorgeous. Max decides she _has_ to say something, this is ridiculous.

“You can’t keep wearing suits everywhere,” Max complains as she comes up to her.

“Oh — really? Why—”

“Because you look too good in them,” Max clarifies, standing on her tiptoes and kissing Victoria’s cheek. “I feel kinda like a trash heap…”

“Is this just because I called you a hipster that first night?” Victoria asks, though she’s smiling now. “Because I was totally full of shit. I mean, you’re a hipster, but I thought you were cute from the start. I’d offer to introduce you to my tailor, but he really only works with my type...and the malls usually close around the time I get up.”

“Maybe when it’s winter you can dress me up,” Max teases, drumming her fingers on Victoria’s shoulder. “Ready for the movie?”

“Yeah.” Victoria doesn’t move for a moment, and neither does Max, their eyes meeting. Victoria looks away first, smiling. “Thanks for this, Max. All of it. I didn’t think I’d get to do this kind of thing.”

“Well, you have a lot of time left. I’m sure you’d get around to it eventually.” Max kisses her cheek and makes the decision to finally circle the car and get in the passenger side. As Victoria gets in, Max thinks. She should tell Victoria what’s going on with Rachel. What their parameters are right now.

“So I had an...interesting talk with Rachel last night,” she begins as the car gets moving.

“Oh. Yeah. Rachel.” Victoria pauses, then goes. “The _fuck._ Rachel.”

“I know. She said...she said to be careful around you, and to try and get you away from your ‘friends,’ and she’d help me if I ever needed it. And then she sort of teleported back to the club and sent me a creepy text.”

Victoria’s silent for a little while. “And I thought _I_ was the weird one in your life.”

Max has to laugh. “Between Chloe, Rachel, and you, every girl I’ve made friends with since college started has made my life really weird. And Chloe’s not even magic!”

Victoria nervously chuckles. “Does this mean we have to do more double-dates? She and I actually _did_ have interesting conversations when we first met, but then…” She bites her lip. “What Mark had planned for her...what he asked Nathan to do…”

Max reaches over and puts her hand over Victoria’s on the gearshift. “Do you...do you want to tell me?”

Victoria shakes her head. “N-not right now. I don’t know if you’d be better off if you knew. It might be best if we just...if we just pretend.”

Something in Max sinks at that, but she nods. “All right.”

Victoria clears her throat. “So, what are we seeing?”

“ _The Book of Life._ I figured since it’s about dead people coming back to life, it might be right up your alley,” Max says with a sly smile.

“That’s stereotyping, Max.”

 

* * *

 

The biggest problem with the movie turns out to be holding Victoria’s hand. It’s cold enough outside, but the theatre is _still_ over-air-conditioned and so trying to be close to Victoria, as much as she wants it, feels a bit like cuddling a ice sculpture. Max almost considers asking her to feed just so she’ll warm up, but they’re sitting near to the front and she doesn’t want to be _that couple._

As they’re leaving, Victoria has a faraway look on her face. Max elbows her.

“What, didn’t like it?” she asks.

“No, no, it was beautiful. A little cliche, but the _art…_ ” Victoria sighs. “It’s just weird to see something like that. It’s not my usual thing.”

“Oh? What’s your usual thing?” Max prods.

“Well…” Victoria bites her lip, looking around her as they exit the building and head towards the car. They moved faster than the crowd, so they’re almost alone. She lowers her voice as she says, “Well, I was raised nocturnal. You know, being prepared to be turned. So I had to watch things on late-night TV, and there was this Adult Swim channel…”

“Oh my God,” Max says, trying not to laugh. “So...Aqua Teen Hunger Force?”

“No!” Victoria objects, crossing her arms. “Never into that ‘random’ shit. Anime. You know, Inuyasha, FMA, stuff like that.”

“Oh man, really?” Max perks up as they get back in the car. “So are you into JRPGs too? Final Fantasy was my _jam_ as a kid.”

“My parents didn’t really think I should play video games,” Victoria says, starting the car. “Too low-class or something. I was lucky to have a TV.”

“Well, I’ve got a PS3 in my room,” Max says, reaching over and patting Victoria’s hand on the gearshift. “I can educate you.”

“That sounds...yeah.” Victoria smiles. “If you really want to make a night of out of this…”

“Duh!” Max exclaims. “The date can’t end _now._ Unless you really need to get new shots, I guess…”

“No, I can slack,” Victoria assures her. “I’m actually getting the work done a lot faster without having to let Nathan look over things.”

Max coughs uncomfortably at the mention of her attempted-murderer, and Victoria quiets down a bit. When they get out and start heading for Max’s room, Victoria takes her hand. She may be cold, but it still feels nice.

“Sorry,” she says quietly. “I know Nathan’s a sensitive subject. He is for me, too. We were raised together. He was always Mark’s favorite, but I think it...it messed him up.”

“It’s all right,” Max replies, squeezing. “We don’t have to talk about it. We can just have fun.”

 

* * *

 

And they do, for a while.

It’s not far into the night that Max just outright _asks_ if Victoria wants to feed, and she does, and she lets Max sink her teeth in too. And _that_ just keeps happening. While Victoria can’t be with her every night, the stored blood is always second-best for Max now.

It takes little effort to go from pure feeding, to makeouts mixed with biting, to more. Once Victoria warms up it’s impossible for Max to keep her hands to herself, and Victoria’s body definitely starts...functioning properly once she’s fed. Their dates end up going long into the night, and even near early morning, before Victoria has to retreat to her room with the blackout curtains and Max has to remember that she is, in theory, a college student.

Rachel starts inviting Max and Victoria around for things; a movie night where she forces everyone to watch Twilight, seemingly only so she can watch Victoria’s face for the entire movie, is the start. From then on it’s everything, from taking them out to bars to late-night lazer tag. It starts to feel like Max just has a girlfriend. Despite all the weirdness, despite her cold skin and red eyes and the rather unusual way they please each other, it starts to feel comfortable.

The text she gets two months later throws all of that out the window.

 **Victoria:** **  
** _Jefferson is coming to L.A._

 

* * *

 

Max and Rachel sit fidgeting in Max’s room, waiting for Victoria to arrive. Rachel’s in the computer chair, drumming her fingers on her leg while Max stretches herself across the bed and stares at the ceiling. Rachel worries her lip, looking at Max, then away again, over and over.

“Thanks for telling me, Max,” she says at last. “I know I said I’d help you, but this…”

“Victoria hasn’t explained what’s going to happen yet,” Max says nervously.

“I know. She’s gotta be all spooky.” Rachel pauses. “Not that I’m one to talk,” she adds with a laugh.

Victoria knocks on the door just then, and glances at Rachel when she comes in. “Good. You brought her.” She sighs, rubbing her forehead. “She knows what’s going on. At least some of it.”

“So what _is_ going on?” Max asks.

“We’re going to kill Mark.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shoot up. “Now that’s not something I expected to hear,” she says, leaning forward expectantly.

“Wait, _what?_ ” Max asks.

“Rachel has every reason to want him dead. I have every reason to want him dead. His _new work_ is...it’s…”

“All I know is what Nathan did to me,” Rachel murmurs, looking away.

“What _did_ he do to you?” Max asks, shakes coming into her hands. “Victoria, this is — this is a big thing to just _drop_ on me—”

“Jefferson told Nathan to bite me,” Rachel murmurs. “I thought it was just for a short shot. But he wanted me drained. Not dead, but...Nathan didn’t do subtlety.” She lets out a long breath of air. “I knew I was fading. And then I was gone. I didn’t want to go. And I just...didn’t.”

“You were a pile of dust on the floor,” Victoria murmurs.

“I don’t know what happened,” Rachel admits. “I was gone, and then I wasn’t. I was outside the house. Right in front of my car. I had my keys in my pocket and everything. All I could think of was leaving Chloe alone, and I’d never even told her that I love her, and I hadn’t even called us girlfriends, and just…” She sucks in air. “I just went home. Told her I didn’t get the job. That I was gonna apply for college. I wanted to forget everything. And then you just happen to come back here and...what did you do to Max?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Victoria insists, crossing her arms. “Fucking Nathan nearly killed her. Again. I saved her. I made her…” She gulps. “I made her my ghoul.”

“Oooh. Okay. So you two aren’t really dating?” Rachel asks.

“It’s complicated,” Max answers. “We are now. We weren’t at first, but…”

“She makes me happy,” Victoria admits, and the conversation stops dead. She fidgets in place for a bit as Max looks her over, feeling warm but also still sick with worry. Victoria clears her throat. “That’s why I want to kill Mark. He wants to take me away from here. From you,” she adds softly.

“What exactly is he doing?” Max asks.

“When he was using Rachel, he was…” Victoria swallows. “He was experimenting with, with watching people die of blood loss. Using Nathan to feed on people, draining them over hours, taking shots...I didn’t want to be part of it. I was _happy_ when Nathan’s…” She glances in Rachel’s direction. “...Nathan’s mistake made him send us away. But now he wants me involved too. Somehow. He’s done with environment shots.”

Max feels sick. “He’s...no one’s stopping him?” she asks, stomach dropping at the idea of the person she once idolized being this terrible.

“He’s a very old vampire. High status. He can do whatever he wants. He doesn’t make trouble, doesn’t show that we exist, it’s not anyone’s problem but ours. And if he dies…” Victoria takes a deep breath. “Well. People won’t know for a while. And as long as there’s not a sudden rash of dead vampires, they’ll think he finally screwed up and stepped into the sun. Hopefully. Even my family doesn’t know where I am anymore.”

Victoria looks unsteady, so Max holds out a hand for her. She takes it gratefully and sits beside Max on the bed, cold fingers warming with Max’s body heat. “I want to live my own life.”

“You’re not alive,” Rachel points out with a smirk.

“You’re one to talk,” Victoria shoots back. Rachel shrugs noncommittally.

“How are we going to do this?” Max asks. “If—if that’s what we’re going to do.”

“It’s what we have to do. Is everyone willing to help? Max, I…” Victoria swallows. “I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt, but...you might need to be bait.”

Max’s heart pounds. “If he takes you away, I’ll die, won’t I?” she asks. “If...if you can’t stay with me…”

“He’ll want me to get rid of you,” Victoria admits. “You’re a loose end now. I won’t let him. I’m not letting any more people die.”

Rachel hums. “You’re more moral than most vampires I’ve met, Vic.”

“I _hate_ him,” Victoria seethes. “And my parents for selling me to him. The whole Society can rot in hell.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me,” Rachel says.

“Good. Now I have...something of a plan. We need him to think Max is under control, that I’m under control. Rachel, what _exactly_ can you do?”

 

* * *

 

 

The drive out to the Hills is silent, Victoria’s fingers rapping on the steering wheel. Max breathes shallow, looking at herself in the rearview mirror, seeing the dark circles under her eyes, the pale green shade coming into her skin. One night without blood already has her looking like this. Part of the act, Victoria said. If a ghoul’s too well-cared-for, people get suspicious. That the vampire might actually like them.

The house is all the way out here, looking over a cliffside. They have to stop at a wrought-iron gate and give a password to get into the driveway. It’s a huge place, but the walls aren’t glass like so many of the mansions they passed on the drive up. There’s no sign of windows at all. It looks like a Scientologist compound.

As they get out of the car, Max almost wants to tap the trunk for good luck. She knows Rachel’s in there, somewhere, or she’s _kind of_ there. The way Rachel described her abilities was vague at best, probably because she doesn’t understand them herself, but she can disappear if she needs to. But there’s no point in exposing themselves.

Victoria walks up and knocks on the door. Max wants so badly to hold her hand, but she can’t. She has to slink behind her and stare at her shoes and act thoroughly domesticated.

Jefferson opens the door, greeting the two of them with a wide, fanged smile.

“Miss Chase!” he says happily. “And you there must be Maxine. Victoria’s told me _so_ much about you.” He steps past Victoria and offers Max his hand. She shakes it limply, trying not to stare at his beady red eyes. “You’re going to be a _wonderful_ subject, though we really ought to feed you so you look your best when we begin. Come inside.”

As soon as they step in, Max realizes how unnervingly bright and white this whole place is. Jefferson closes the door behind them, then turns back to them. “This way, please,” he says, heading down the hall to the left. God, Max wants nothing more than for Victoria to hold her hand, tell her she’ll be all right. But Rachel will save her. She won’t die tonight. If everything works out.

They go down a flight of stairs, into a room filled with inactive floodlights, white sheets laid on the floor and walls. Max represses the urge to gasp when she sees the figure chained to a chair in a corner of the studio space.

He looks straight at her when they enter, his eyes sunken in, lips pulling back from his face to reveal long, jagged fangs. His ears are pointed, black fur sprouting behind them. His nose curls strangely upward. She recognizes his hair, though it’s shaggy and forming clumps.

“I have him under control, now,” Jefferson boasts. “With a snap of my fingers he’ll stop feeding. Finally.”

Max looks to Victoria, who’s holding her composure amazingly well. “He’s degrading,” she says in a monotone.

“Yes. He’s more useful as a mindless beast, because that’s what he already was.” Jefferson’s words have bite to them. “I drain him myself to keep him hungry. He’ll need to be taken care of eventually, but he won’t be necessary for this project.” He turns to Victoria. “Would you mind feeding her? I’d like to be able to document her decline from a fresh state. I’ve never studied a ghoul in film before.”

“What — right here?” Victoria asks, sounding almost offended.

“Of course. We ought to start right away. You already kept me waiting most of the night,” Jefferson snaps.

Victoria rolls her eyes and reaches into her pocket. “Fine,” she says, producing a vial and shoving it roughly into Max’s chest. Max quickly uncaps and downs it, and feels instant relief. The world comes into sharper focus, and she feels like she just popped her ears.

“Excellent!” Jefferson cries, crouching down and looking directly at Max’s face. “Look at that! So fascinating to see how quickly she recovers. I need you in front of a camera right now, Maxine. Victoria — you may stay and watch until dawn. I think I can teach you a lot about portraiture.”

Max keeps her mouth shut as Jefferson sets up his work. He gives her a chair, makes her look right at him. He poses her. Shot after shot, Max suppresses the urge to scream or vomit at the way he looks at her. At the end of the night, he brings out a roll of duct tape.

“Now we don’t want our little daywalker running around when we can’t see her, do we?” he asks, looking over his shoulder at Victoria. She doesn’t respond. Max suppresses her shudders as he wraps the tape around her wrists and ankles, several layers. She can’t even move. “There we go,” he says, standing up and clapping his hands together. “I’m impressed, Victoria. You’ve trained her so well for such a young vampire.”

“Thank you, sir,” Victoria says through gritted teeth.

“Dawn’s almost here. They won’t sleep. Nathan’s too hungry. Come along, Victoria.”

Jefferson flips off the lights. Victoria only looks back once as she leaves. Max gives her a nod. She can handle this. Rachel will be in when the sun rises.

She closes her eyes and waits, trying not to look at Nathan in the corner, monstrous and nonverbal. Until suddenly, he speaks.

“You.” It comes out of him like thunder, crashing up through his vocal chords. Max’s eyes shoot open and look right into his. “It’s all your fault,” he growls, fingers flexing against his metal bindings. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be free. I’d be with _her._ ”

Max’s frozen blood starts to run hot. How _dare_ he. He didn’t know her at all.

“No you wouldn’t,” she fires back.

Mistake.

“Fuck you,” he says, and his eyes burn like beacons down here. “Fuck you, you fucking nosy _bitch_ , it’s all your _fault._ ”

“You’re the one who decided to bite me,” Max says back. She can’t help it. This piece of garbage who got her tangled up in all this to begin with is blaming _her_?

Nathan growls wordlessly, and Max sees something poking out of his back. “I’m going to change,” he moans. “I’m changing already, and I won’t _know_ anything and I’m so...so fucking angry, and _you,_ it’s your fault _._ ”

He starts rocking back and forth in his chair, pulling and pulling against the handcuffs until suddenly there’s a horrible _crack_ and he’s torn an armrest right off. Max squirms, eyes wide in the dark, and she doesn’t even think about the fact that she can see what he’s doing in this near-blackness because he pulls off the other next. He has claws. Webbing stretches between his elongated fingers as he reaches down and hooks his fingers under the restraints.

Max can’t move. She’s not as strong as he is, and whatever’s happening to him is just making him angrier. She hears the shrieking of metal, and one leg is free.

The duct tape weighs her down. She can’t do anything. Can’t run. Can only watch as Nathan destroys his last cuff and rises to his full height, his shirt tearing as wings sprout from his back.

He’s not speaking anymore and his eyes are filled with hunger. Max wants to scream, cry for help, but who’d hear her? What can she do except freeze as he approaches her, mouth open and fangs glistening? All she can think is to close her eyes and wait for—

The footsteps stop. Max opens her eyes, and sees Nathan standing in place, twitching slightly, a sharp point jutting out of his chest.

He crumbles into dust.

The stake clatters to the floor. Rachel stands behind where he once was, wide-eyed and panting hard.

“H-holy fuck,” breaks the silence, Rachel clapping her hands over her mouth. “I just, I felt him, and I could feel how angry he was, I could see his aura and I had to manifest and just—”

“It’s—it’s okay, Rachel,” Max stammers, trying to keep herself calm. “H-he’s gone now.”

“I can’t believe it, I killed someone,” Rachel says, eyes still wide, her hands shaking. “Max, oh my God.”

“You had to do it, and — and really, _thank you_ , but can I get out of this chair? Okay? Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah.” Rachel takes a deep breath. “Yeah. _Shit._ Okay.” She reaches into her pocket and takes out a utility knife, walking around Nathan’s remains and kneeling down next to Max. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she mutters. “I...God. I thought I was _done_ with these people.”

“I hope I am too, after this,” Max admits as one of her arms comes blissfully free. “Just...just one more thing, Rachel. We can do this.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Rachel bites her lip as she saws through the next cuff. “I’m j-just, really starting to get it, that these powers aren’t some fancy party trick, I’m fucking _dead,_ Max, and I don’t know when or if I’m gonna go, I…” She takes in a deep breath. “I need to tell Chloe I love her. Again. God.”

“She knows, Rachel.”

Rachel makes a high-pitched little _mm-hmm_ noise in the back of her throat, but says nothing more until Max is free. She gives her a full, long hug when she stands up. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she murmurs. “Chloe needs you, too.”

Max separates from her and takes the stake from the floor. “Okay,” she breathes. “Do you know where he is?”

Rachel nods. “I can feel him. Follow me.”

Max grips the stake tightly as they move through the silent, confining estate. Passing by a kitchen and a living room almost feels surreal. Does Mark sit in there and watch Netflix when he’s not slowly watching his subjects die? What really is the life of a vampire like, besides Victoria’s? She hopes she never has to find out.

Rachel leads them upstairs, and then to a bedroom door. She stops at the threshold. Max steps forward and tries the door, only to find it locked tight. As Max turns to Rachel to ask for help, she finds nothing but empty air. Then the door opens in front of her, Rachel almost smiling.

“You really are kind of spooky,” Max comments as she moves past her. Rachel flips the lights on and Max sees him.

He looks almost like a normal person, sleeping. In a bed. The only sign he’s not is that he’s not breathing, and no part of him stirs even when Max pulls off the covers and turns him over on his back. His chest is bare and pale.

Max holds the stake unsteadily. She looks to Rachel, who blanches. “I already did Nathan,” she says, putting her hands up defensively.

Max sighs and takes a deep breath, putting a hand on his chest _(gross)_ to steady her aim. She almost wants to close her eyes. But she has to do this.

She stabs him with all the strength she can muster. He jerks up, eyes and mouth opening, and Max stares him down. Their eyes meet. He knows who killed him.

“She _has_ trained you well,” he rasps.

Max pounds her other hand on the flat end of the stake, and he’s gone. Nothing remains of Mark Jefferson but the dusty imprint of a man upon his bed.

Max and Rachel breathe heavily in the silence. “Uh,” Rachel begins, “V-Victoria’s in the next room. Should we try taking her home, or…?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone else here,” Max says with a sigh, looking away. “Let’s make sure she’s okay.”

They pad through the house, and Rachel pulls the same trick with Victoria’s lock. Max finds her in a guest bed, lying on her side. She’s never seen Victoria during the day before. They’ve never slept in the same bed.

“She’s still...well, not alive, but she’ll come back when the sun goes down,” Rachel says. “I can still see her aura.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Max says quietly. “I need some sleep, anyway.”

“If you’re sure,” Rachel replies, looking down at Victoria’s immobile form. “I’m gonna go home and call Chloe. Call me if you need me back.”

Rachel walks out of the door, and Max checks the hallway. Gone. Of course.

She locks the door and settles into bed behind Victoria, wrapping an arm around her waist. She’s cold, but Max’s body heat slowly warms her up. Max’s heartbeat slows. It’s over.

Well, most of it is.

 

* * *

 

“Mmmmax?” Victoria mumbles, turning over suddenly in Max’s arms.

Max blinks away the sleep from her eyes. “I’m here,” she confirms softly. “Just me.”

“So he’s dead?”

Max nods. “And Nathan too. He got loose, and Rachel…”

Victoria swallows, casting her eyes down. “It’s probably for the best,” she says. “He’s never been at peace before. When he was turned he only got worse.”

Max holds her, lets her shake. After a long silence, she asks, “What do we do now?”

Victoria sits up and sighs. “We check this place for money. He should have a lot of cash somewhere. Maybe Rachel can help out. Then I figure out how to be a lone vampire without the Society behind me.”

“...do you regret anything?” Max has to ask.

Victoria looks at her, and her gaze doesn’t waver. “No. We had to do this. _I_ had to do this. I think this was always what was going to happen, in one way or another. I hated them all.” She reaches out and touches Max’s cheek. “You helped me get free. No matter how long I’m around, I’ll never forget that.”

They share a long embrace on the bed. Victoria’s the first to get up. She waits at the edge of the doorway, staring out into the hallway, thinking. Max stares at her back and wishes she could take a picture.

Victoria turns and gives Max a small smile. “Come on,” she urges. “The night is ours.”

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
